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The Relevance of Semantics

December 19, 2015

Applications directly using semantics are not lacking. We can mention research on automatic summarization or machine translation. Semantics is also involved in robotics, in particular the reasoning in natural languages, the man-machine dialogue. Semantics is, in the language sciences, as opposed to syntax.

The syntax is concerned with formal rules, whereas semantics concerns itself with meaning. The goal of the Semantic Web is to allow machines to exchange information using the meaning of words as in natural languages. This ambitious goal requires a lot of work on languages, systems and ontologies. As part of this objective, Topic Maps need to hold an important place.

For example, traditional search engines operate syntactically: a query on the keyword “sun” will fetch in a database pages containing the string [sun] regardless of the meaning of this word which depends of course on context. We found both the Auberge du Soleil, the Théâtre du Soleil, a catalog of sunglasses … plus pages about the Sun Star. In a Topic Map, we would create a Topic Sun, which will be defined according to the context. Ties with the Topic, via associations and occurrences are semantic links.

Language and symbolic capacity are at the heart of research in cognitive science (brain science). Scientists have discovered the biological basis of conscious experience. In addition to the exceptional concentration of nerve cells in the human brain, there is a vast network of connections between different cortical areas, which have various functions.

“The areas that coordinate language must be connected to all other sensory modalities, because we can recognize and identify an object by touch as well as vision, hearing or smell. All this information must find its way to the generator of the word.

However, intermodal connections between different cortical areas are far fewer in animals whose sensory systems remain more isolated, researchers recently found out. If the animal detects a stimulus by the visual system, it is not certain that it knows to generalize it in another modality, such as touch, for example.

Animals generalize much less than humans because they have less intermodal connections. The capacity for abstraction, generalization, is more advanced in humans (for better or for worse) and the intermodal capacity for abstraction is made possible by combining concept-word (or signified-signifier).

The symbolic capacity, is the fact that the symbols “milk”, “juice” … return home not only to a physical reality but also other symbols such as “liquid”, “fruit extract” etc.. It is this ability that allows us to invent imaginary animals, imaginary worlds from properties that have symbolic animals and real situations, or to imagine a life after death …

One wonders what is the semantics of programming. In fact, we find the term in mathematics since the 30s. Mathematical logic is a very precise language derived from natural language and designed to avoid ambiguity. Mathematical logic includes a formal syntax that says for example that the following sentence is correct: for any natural number x, there is a successor of the number x.

But there is also a formal semantics giving meaning to the symbols invariable and accurate, in terms of values or truths of set theory. Theorists have extended these computer methods to the analysis of programming languages. We thus find the term semantics in linguistics, mathematical logic and computer science.

For their part, linguists working in formal semantics extend these methods to the analysis of conjunctions (and, hence, so …), determinants (all, some, each, several …), the negation of verb tenses etc. Any linguistic semantics, even more intuitive, can be reformulated logically.

It is obviously possible to make the semantics intuitively. But reading semantics, we always ask: what is the link between semantics and intuitive logic? The challenge is to make the link between the two. (ie a bit of logic and set theory), taking into account the fact that your knowledge of logic are limited.

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Hello we love animals and this is something many people living in the big cities have forgotten about.

Yes we tend to forget where we came from, that is nature, and without it we are nothing. Modern life based on consumption and ephemeral pleasures is not sustainable and we are starting to see the consequences with the global warning crisis.

Did you know that the most worrisome aspect of it is the melting of the Poles, starting with the North Pole where a so-called Blue Ocean event should occur in the next few years. In other words this is the moment when the entire Artic Ocean is compltely ice free sometime in September (warmest month).

We will then see more and more extreme weather events, sea level rising, more floods, more droughts, more wild fires, etc.

This is because humans have expanded too much and too fast on this earth, spoiling resources and burning too much fossil fuels for their never-ending focus on short-term enjoyment.

In the process animal species are getting extinct rapidly as their natural habitat is either destroyed or changing faster than they can adapt. Sadly such species once extinct will never come back to life.

Can we not behave in a less greedy way and share the planet with all the animals peacefully?